Report Suggests Privatizing Turnpike Could Produce Cash Windfall
       The state could stand to collect $5 billion and the Massachusetts turnpike may be more efficiently operated under an idea promoted Wednesday by the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. In a paper authored by former Boston Herald business journalist Ted Bunker, the institute suggests that leasing the 138-mile toll road and Big Dig tunnels to a private operator might be an alternative to the status quo, under which the roads are run by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and Gov. Mitt Romney’s proposal to merge the authority and the state highway department.
       The report cites examples in Chicago, Virginia, and Texas in which state and local governments are generating substantial new revenues by leasing and privatizing some road, bridge and tunnel operations. According to the report, private construction and operation of major highways is not uncommon in other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia and Canada.
       The report says putting a value on a Mass Turnpike lease is an “extremely complicated task” but suggests there are large amounts of private capital looking to invest in US transportation facilities. It also notes that a long-term lease of the turnpike would depend on retaining and regularly increasing toll charges.
       “It is far from certain that the MassPike could attract a significant bid from private operators,” Bunker concludes in the report. “But at a more fundamental level, policymakers should consider whether operating a toll road and capitalizing on its abundant resources is really a core competency of the state. If a private operator can do the job more efficiently, and pay the state handsomely for the opportunity, why not take that route?” (Source: State House News Service)